Saturday, March 04, 2006

I just finished a great book on growing and cooking with heirloom vegetables. A Celebration of Heirloom Vegetables: Growing and Cooking Old-Time Varieties (by Roger Yepsen) covers 25 types of heirloom veggies, from the familiar squash, beans, and melons to kohlrabi, rutabaga, and tomatillos. Each chapter includes varieties, brief growing and harvesting instructions, instructions for saving seeds, and beautiful full-color botanical drawings. The chapters end with recipes, from simple to complex, some with an international flavor. Kitchen gardeners will love this book.

About the Authors

Rainy Day Gardening is brought to you by Meg and Janet, two librarians who like to play in the dirt.

Born and raised in Northern California, Janet started gardening when she was about 4 (mumble mumble years ago). After relocating to Portland, OR, she became a true rainy day gardener, gardening in the rainy Northwest for 14 years. In 2010, she picked up stakes (and other garden implements) and moved to Southern California, where rainy day gardening is a rarity. She now gardens on about 2/10 of an acre, growing vegetables, fruit, flowers, trees, shrubs, and a fine crop of weeds. Her interests include carnivorous plants, citrus, cottage gardening, her greenhouse, and anything edible.

Meg was born in South Carolina and raised all over the country (plus Japan!), but has been living in Seattle since 1992 and now considers it "home." She has only been gardening for about two years (just bought her first home) and is still in the learning stages. Her interests include bright colors, plants she can snack on while she's weeding, and learning how to keep things healthy and happy without using chemicals.